2006.02.26 - Balancing Heart and Intellect

[Monica]

I took a long hard look at how mainstream science treats new or controversial ideas. It is extremely biased. To a degree, it is also irrational in a way that they (scientists) are unaware of.

Oh this is sooooo true! Ideally, science is supposed to be totally neutral. But how many times have we heard 'scientists' say, "Anyone who believes in aliens (ghosts, reincarnation, etc.) is obviously deluded" ?

An unbiased scientist would say, "Well we have evidence, but not proof for such phenomena, so I will remain open-minded. I speculate that it's more likely the person has a mental disorder, but I won't rule out the possibility that his conclusions might be accurate."

I realized this while listening to the testimony of Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroscientist who had a remarkable experience in which she suffered a stroke while remaining conscious.

Oh I loved hearing her story!

the major mistake close-minded scientists, atheists and skeptics made continuously is that they discredit their emotions, intuition, feelings and everything else we would call the product of the heart, or right-brain. This is because they do not want to be 'irrational'. They fear above all else becoming un-objective. And the bold scientists who DO follow their hearts are pushed the side in our current scientific world. But, if it is possible to have those feelings because those feelings are a part of reality, how can you call yourself objective when examining reality, if you always look at just one side of it? There's nothing rational about that at all. That's what's missing from the atheist's tool kit, and why they come to the conclusions they do come to.

Well said!!

There are images of the universe that, to me, are so profoundly beautiful and awe inspiring... that to someone else is completely random and meaningless. In itself, that stance is a larger leap of faith than ours is here.

Agreed! They don't really measure just how irrational it is to take such a leap of faith. They'd rather not believe anything that's not physically proven. Which is, in itself, irrational, because there is so much that cannot yet be physically proven.

Anyway, we're not even asking them to believe that which is not yet proven. Even if they aren't willing to have faith, at least they could just be neutral. That's not asking for too much, especially since science is supposed to be neutral. But many of them aren't even aware of their own biases. Their biases have become accepted, so that those pioneers who think outside the box of conventional dogma, are considered 'fringe'.

In short, what I'm trying to say is that we are a product of this universe. Thusly anything we humans do is an organic process of that universe, just as anything a star does is an organic process. Everything from freeway on-ramps, to great works of art. It's all 100% naturally derived from the universe. Since humans DO have feelings that god exists, that there is a larger picture, and that they have had those feelings for thousands of years is not insignificant. You can't just ignore all of that because you cannot classify it with numbers, language or the scientific method. It is, therefore, wise to follow your heart, especially in an area such as spirituality where the intellect cannot (by design I would say) help you at all.

Again, very well said! And an excellent point I hadn't thought of.

Having said all this, I do feel that open minded science and spirituality should have no conflict once our understanding of each has developed significantly.

Ha, I just said the very same thing, before I read this!

Quantum Mechanics is by far the most interesting field of study in this regard. To me, the laws of QM are the same about the same as magic.

Although I have a limited understanding of QM, I too had excitedly referenced QM when talking to scientists. But they scoffed, claiming that metaphysically-minded people often reference QM to back up their spiritual 'theories'. Case in point: What the Bleep. The scientists claim that we are using QM inappropriately. I'm not knowledgeable enough to respond to that, but I suspect it's their own dogma getting in the way of connecting the dots, which are obvious to us.

The Law of One is also, I feel, probably the most advanced form of spirituality on Earth, and in many areas it crosses over in to scientific languages

Agreed! I think science will eventually understand and maybe even prove much of what's in the Law of One. Already, a few items are now supported by science:

Science & Technology > Law of One claims proven or evidenced by Science

What a rant! Sorry for the length of this

No need to apologize for such a thought-provoking and relevant discussion!